'Girls' Costume Designer Jenn Rogien Teams Up With Aerie

We learned all about her new role at the brand and what it's like styling Lena Dunham and friends.

There's a fever sweeping the nation, and it's not this season's flu bug. Girls, HBO's critically acclaimed series about twenty-somethings making it (or, rather, trying to make it) in New York, is about to premiere its second season.

One of the things we love about the show is that its characters are defined by wardrobe choices that reflect those of real girls. Jenn Rogien, the show's costume designer, recently sat down with us to discuss styling the cast, as well as her new gig as fit and style consultant for Aerie.

How would you describe each character's style on Girls?

It's very youthful across the board, and it's real. Like all of us, each girl has her own take on style and dressing and clothing, so we've created a look for each girl that's individual. For Hannah, it's a little more disheveled. For Marnie it's very polished, for Shoshanna it's a little more flirty, and for Jessa it's a lot more eclectic.

How strong of an opinion does Lena Dunham have about the styling?

She created the show, so she knows these girls even better than I do. She's both my inspiration and my guide, and also my best critic at the same time because she knows them inside and out. It's pretty amazing, actually, how thoroughly she knows the world of these girls. Sometimes the styling is pretty direct and written into the script, or sometimes Lena will give me great inspiration like, "This character is based on this incident that happened with a friend of mine who did this." Then we'll take that and translate it for the character.

How did your collaboration with Aerie come about?

It was an incredibly wonderful moment of great timing. They happened to see my most recent work on Girls, and they were also aware that I'd worked on several other TV shows that had a lot of style impact. I personally have enjoyed Aerie for a while, and they've done a really amazing job of bringing the line along. It's been a resource for me as a costume designer for things that are pretty and youthful and tell stories, that reach a different demographic than other brands out there do.

What is your role at the brand?

I come in and look at their collection and pick things that I gravitate to from a style perspective. One of the things I love about Aerie in general is that they have amazing color. We're hoping to do several different things, including appearances in stores and style and fit picks.

Who do you see as the ideal Aerie girl?

It's a girl who's looking for pretty, confident undies that help express her personality. It's the girl next door who we all think is really cool and we want to be.

The underwear on Girls is much less stereotypically "sexy" than what we see on a lot of TV shows. How did you arrive at that decision?

I think one of my strengths as a designer is that I'm very character-driven in a naturalistic sort of way. So when I go looking for underwear, that's always in the back of my head: what works best for this character? And sexy isn't always necessarily for every character. We really do cast a very broad net and look for things that are real and honest, and that are still pretty and feminine in a lot of cases. We go for what's real for the character.

Do you have any favorite scenes from the show where undergarments played a leading role?

The long john scene. I mean, talk about unconventional lingerie, for men and women. It's equal opportunity! They were part of the script, so we did a lot of research finding just the right ones that we could dye the right shade. We knew they would be outside at night, and that we could stain them in the right way so they looked old.

We tend to think of underwear as more about function than form. Do you have any styling tips?

For me, intimates and underwear have several different functions. One is truly foundation, which I think is why we as women always get into underwear in the first place — because you need some sort of foundation for support, shape, or line. Then there's also the function of intimates turning into an accessory, because you might see the straps or you see color underneath the fabric. Then it sort of starts turning into an extension of the wardrobe as well as an accessory.

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Catch the Girls season two premiere Sunday, Jan. 13 on HBO, and click through our slideshow to see some of Jenn's favorite looks from Aerie's latest collection!